Norman Rockwell Museum
Stockbridge | nrm.org
Hidden Treasure: Norman Rockwell occasionally included himself in his paintings. You can find him in the background of the crowd of townspeople in Freedom of Speech (1943)—he’s the figure on the left closest to the corner of the blackboard.
MASS MoCA
North Adams | massmoca.org
Hidden Treasure: There are 100 special-edition coins in corners of the museum—part of a 2012 installation by Canadian artist Micah Lexier that remains. See how many you can find. (One you won’t see: in the employee bathroom!)
Visitor’s Tip: The vast campus—with 300,000 square feet of gallery space over four floors—can be tricky to navigate. If in doubt about which way to go (or how to exit), head to floor two—every building connects on the second floor through the Sol LeWitt exhibition.
The Clark Art Institute
Williamstown | clarkart.edu
Hidden Treasure: With so much to see, visitors often miss the American decorative arts collection. Two galleries feature early American paintings, furniture, and the Burrows collection of American silver. There’s even a tea service that once belonged to Empress Josephine, Napoleon’s first wife!
Visitor’s Tip: Want to see drawings by Edgar Degas or James McNeill Whistler up close? Visitors can make a free appointment to visit the Clark’s Manton Study Center for Works on Paper for a private viewing of any of the thousands of prints, drawings, photographs, and etchings in the collection.
Williams College Museum of Art
Williamstown | artmuseum.williams.edu
Hidden Treasure: During the Civil War, Sarah Fisher Ames volunteered as a nurse in Washington, D.C., which is how she came to know—and sculpt—Lincoln. There were even rumors that they were more than friends! She did at least five busts of him in the 1860s, one of which is in the U.S. Senate collection—and another is in WCMA.
Berkshire Museum
Pittsfield | berkshiremuseum.org
Hidden Treasure: A massive painting on the second floor of the Berkshire Museum was once shot and slashed! The circa-17th-century portrait of James Stuart, Duke of Lenox and Richmond, was brought to America from London, where it is believed that the piece had miraculously survived a siege by Oliver Cromwell’s forces. When it was restored in the early 1920s, the conservator noted that the painting had been damaged by bullet holes in the face of the Duke, as well as several sword slashes.
The Mount
Lenox | edithwharton.org
Hidden Treasure: The pet cemetery at The Mount is tucked back on a wooded knoll above the formal French flower garden. Edith Wharton would have been able to look out her bedroom window and think of her dearly departed dogs, including a beloved terrier named Jules, whose headstone inscription reads OUR FRIEND.
BY LILY GOLDBERG
